A blog about my history project, a biography of an 18th century American woman who lived in and is buried in my town. I kind of think of her as my imaginary friend. Or my ghostly friend. Or a friendly ghost. Ghostly friend sounds better.

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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

UPDATED: Another Descendant - This Time with a Photo!

10th President of Princeton University (then known as the College of New Jersey)

Phebe Taylor's Great-Grandson

So, I got sick of the PTA post being the most recent post. Especially considering that it wasn't all that much about the PTA but more a random collection of my random thoughts.

I remembered that one of Phebe's great-grandsons was important. And then I thought, hey, maybe there's a portrait of him. And there is! A photograph! Or a daguerrotype, technically. From wiki, naturally.

Now this is a handsome fella. He was the 10th president of Princeton University and there is a building named after him. I should maybe go check that out! And visit his grave.

He is related to Phebe in the following way: Phebe and John Taylor had Mary Taylor. She married Absalom Bainbridge. They had a number of children, including Captain William Bainbridge about whom I recently wrote. In addition to the Captain and about 12 other children, they had a daughter named Phoebe Bainbridge. She married Dr. John Maclean and they had John Jr. in 1800.

John Maclean Jr. never met Phebe, of course, but still. What I like about him is that it's a lineage through the female line. Phebe's daughter's daughter's son. Reminds me of the great movie Antonia's Line. Phoebe Bainbridge did have a daughter who had children, so I should look into that line. John Jr. died unmarried, so he never had children...that we know of - hey ooo! Had to get that in there.

One thing that strikes me, looking at his portrait is good Lord but I love those cravats. I truly do.

UPDATE! I love Google image searches. Really, really. I went looking for an image of the Maclean building at Princeton, and this came up. This is George Macintosh Maclean and his son John. George was the brother of John Jr. (above), the 10th President of Princeton. George was very well known in academic circles in his own right. George, however, was not such a good lookin' fella. In any case, below is a picture of another of Phebe's great-grandsons and a picture of her great-great-grandson, taken sometime between 1842 and 1845.

About Me

I am at home with my two children, who are lovely btw, and have been at home for about 5 years. I'm an amateur writer and really really amateur historian. So please be gentle. I've published a chemistry thesis, though and co-authored several journal articles based on my chemistry research in graduate school. Oh, and also, please don't steal from me. Apparently, that's a problem on the interwebs. Thanks.